NIO Cancels its Battery Rental Program

Financials, Automotive, Healthcare Author: Feng An Jun 04, 2019 04:27 PM (GMT+8)

At present, NIO mainly promotes financial schemes cooperating with major banks.

NIO House. PHOTO: Credit to NIO

One of NIO's signature marketing strategies, "battery rental," has been pulled from shelves. New ES8 and ES6 buyers will not be able to opt for the program. “The system is only temporarily removed from the shelves and will be reinstalled after optimization. More financial options will be supported in the future." Said NIO.

As early as the launch of NIO's first product ES8, the battery rental plan was launched simultaneously. After selecting this plan, the terminal price of the vehicle dropped by CNY 100,000. Therefore, it can be regarded as an "interest-free financial plan" designed to improve the competitiveness of products and reduce the price range.

This program was equivalent to a “five-year, costs CNY 1660 (USD 240.1) per month, interest-free loan of CNY 100,000 (USD 14463.62).”

The initial battery rental program is to pay a monthly battery rental fee of CNY 1,280 for 78 consecutive months. Later, it was changed to the monthly payment of CNY 1660 for 60 consecutive months. But need not pay the poundage in loan common, service charge and interest to wait all the time.

NIO has been planning to cancel the "battery rental" program for a long time. Since the last version of its APP, it has been unable to submit car purchase orders after checking the battery rental plan. Although the system indicated that an upgrade was needed, there was no updated version of the software.

After an update to the NIO APP last week, the "battery rental" program was completely removed from the vehicle configuration option. 

At present, NIO mainly promotes financial solutions in cooperation with major Banks. There are three categories: stable monthly payment, account receivable and quick application. There are still repayment plans that can offer low interest or even interest-free repayment